Ewen Jones (Herbert, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Calare for moving this motion. I appreciate the opportunity to speak on an organisation for which we should all have great respect. The member for Calare said that he was once a cadet. I was not a cadet, nor did I serve—and the cadets and the ADF are better for that. Whether they are my RAAF cadets at Garbutt, my Army cadets at Heatley State High School at Lavarack Barracks or the TS Coral Sea Navy cadets at South Townsville, these are young people working hard to improve their skills in a wide range of areas.

I agree with the member for Batman that the Australian cadet movement is the premier youth leadership program on offer in our country today. Before I came to this place, I was an employer of many young people. If I saw that the young person had served in cadets, they were always granted an interview. The reasons are many, but they are also very simple: for a start, cadets are good people. They are invariably polite and well presented. They can speak to people many years their senior with respect and authority. They understand the nature of conversation. Cadets understand teamwork. They know that not everyone can be a star and that some have to do the hard yards so that all can win. They know that if they have a hard-yards role, they will do it with a smile on their faces and sweat on their brows as they push their teams to success. They listen. This is often overlooked and is a quality that many of us in here could do with a refresh of. The ability to take instructions and follow through without constantly having to be reminded of the duty is a cost saving to every business and every organisation. They can tell the time and they understand that punctuality is indeed a virtue. Cadets learn some personal discipline and respect for themselves and for others. Cadets are proud but not narcissistic. They have pride in themselves and in their teams. In a world where we are seeing children riding around the streets in the middle of the night, you can bet your bottom dollar that none of them are cadets. More than anything, cadets are up for the challenge. They are constantly shifting out of their comfort zone and trying things they have never done before—and succeeding. Even when they fail, it is a success because they have tried. They will analyse, and then they will overcome.

Cadets do need support and they do need to be housed. In my city, my Navy cadets at TS Coral Sea are going to be without a home in 2017. We are working very hard in this area with the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Defence, Darren Chester, the member for Gippsland, to make sure that there is a smooth transition. Lavarack Barracks is a great Army base but it is not a great place for kids. The barracks that are there for my Army cadets are demountables. I would love to see a permanent home for them, either on that base or somewhere near it—it is easier for kids to get onto the base by pushbike or with parents. We are all working together.

I agree with what the member for Calare said when he raised this motion, that these things do not just happen. It takes an enormous amount of effort from parents, volunteers, veterans and current serving members. A good friend of mine, Jim Davis, used to run the Magnetic Island branch of TS Coral Sea. Jim is an old salt and he has done tremendous service for his country, but he is not up to handling a bunch of cadets anymore. Sadly, the Magnetic Island branch of the TS Coral Sea cadets is not able to continue. It has some fantastic facilities and equipment and it would be great to see that sort of thing come back on. We are always working and looking for people for those things in those spaces. It does take a lot of effort. John Osborne, who heads up TS Coral Sea, said that he is certainly not going to retire on the amount of money he gets from it and that he certainly does not want to work out his hourly rate, because it would be fairly low.

Being a cadet does not mean you are destined to become a member of the ADF—far from it. Being a cadet is a role unto itself that will set you up for life knowing that there is nothing in this world that cannot be overcome if you plan properly and carry out that plan. To anybody who is thinking about getting into cadets, I give you my wholehearted endorsement. In Townsville, as would be the case right around country, you would be with a bunch of people who want to push themselves, who want to stretch themselves, who want to see how good they can be and bring their team with them, who want to try new things and who want to be part of a greater society. We are lucky in this place to be surrounded by people who genuinely care about their communities, and I think the cadets program is right in that space. I am very proud to be in a city that has so many cadets and I am very proud to be in a city that takes its young people so seriously. I thank the House.

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